The Bush-Haters
Been reading about the remarkable campaign of Gov. Dean, who's tapped into the white-hot Democratic anger towards President Bush. Since Bush has been a huge spender, signed steel tarriffs and a Medicare bill, it seems there's one major reason for the anger. Iraq. Is it all just about his diplomacy skills, or the idea of the war itself?
What surprises me about this is why the war isn't seen as a "tough call". I'm also surprised by knee-jerk supporters.
When the inspections were ended in '98, there was a feeling that Saddam could be ignored and the agreement made at the end of the Gulf War swept under the rug. I know I wasn't pounding on doors saying, "hey, hey we got to have those inspections!". Out of sight, out of mind, I wasn't worried about Saddam. But would the Bush-haters really prefer our typically undisciplined approach to foreign threats? I'm not suggesting Bush is always consistent - merely that in this case the war could be seen as the disciplined and logically consistent consequence of the past twelve years of dealing with Saddam.
I'm not sure anyone BUT Bush would've gone to war in Iraq, in part because it's personal, or "persnal" as he might say. His dad felt the sting of criticism that he hadn't ended the first Gulf War properly; his legacy would've been ruined had Saddam developed and used WMDs. He was told over and over that he hadn't finished the job. And he wasn't given the opportunity given his failed re-election in '92.
But it's not just "persnal". The current President is disciplined, and has a strong will. Most politicians don't have the spine that he does, which makes his enemies all the madder. When I was a kid and verbally fought with my sister, the worst part was when she acted like it didn't bother her. Bush gets up early every morning and pounds out five 7-minute miles. One senses that he doesn't like messes, or threats about which he could have done something. So it's a natural fit that he would want to tackle Iraq. 9/11 gave him the additional impetus since the idea of a "democratic citadel" in the middle of the Middle East seemed as irresistible as it does unlikely. Like mild Canada right there next to Iran and Syria. Don't we already have Turkey as a citadel of democracy in the Islamic world?
***
Dreamin'
Dreams, at least my dreams, are never fantastical. They have a foot in 'it could happen' while possessing a robustness that real life lacks. More novelistic than many novels, dreams effortlessly riff and vary outside of time and writer's block. They are written to please. Sensing flagging interest, the Dream-maker sows something unexpected in a real-time fashion.
Transportation difficulties rarely present themselves. I was somewhere, then, inexplicably, just outside Bronx Stadium at dusk. Plots twine and twist and make merry or ill.
I set here to write about the dream but am already losing it; it's evanscenting itself. Like trying to grasp water.
No comments:
Post a Comment